"The environmental club existed in our college unofficially for years, and dedicated works of many brought the college with many awards which include the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshasnehi award 2002 (from Govt. of India). The club was officially made in Feb 2006 under the guidance of Prof. D Thankamony and student representatives Greeshma Kadangot and Varun T. It included a set of 16 active members...
The activities of the club started with the trip to Kareem forest which was highly adventurous to all. Various seminars on different species of birds were conducted by the students of WWF from our college and outside. This was followed by a bird survey on March 11th, 18th and 25th, 2006 from 7.30am to 9.00 am. Over whelming 56 species, both migratory and resident birds were found, by the members. As part of the campus survey the team visited Akkulam for the study of wet birds.
A photo exhibition “Ages through the campus” was done at CETAA Hall which depicted the activities of students and staff members to turn the campus green. This was done as a document for the ‘Manorama Palathulli’ award which our campus got in 2006 (award conferred by Malayala Manorama for “Water Eco-friendly activities”)
‘Athmanilayam’ nursery was visited during the month of September 2006 and variety of plants and trees were brought to campus. The nursery of our campus, the Eco-Corner was well maintained and played a vital role in growing small plants, sprouting seeds and preserving the newly born plants.
Patches of acacia still exist in our campus. When ever there is a clearing, we plant saplings to fill them. Planting was done in September and October ‘06. We also have a remarkable population of various species of trees in the campus. The activities of the club also include watering these saplings on alternate days. The remarkable rare collection of photos of birds and of some butterflies and flowers were displaced in verandah of college during November 2006. With the combined effort of all team members, a book was released which contained the collection of the bird species in the campus. The book gives a description of the birds with scientific name and Malayalam name. The book is a key and stepping stone at college level, to be with nature.
Our objective ‘is to preserve the hidden beauty of campus which people in campus are unaware of.’ Things seem to be precious only when we loose them. Preserve, enjoy and be with the beauty of campus, else one day this beauty will die out.
The further activities of campus include many more educational adventurous trip and butterfly survey in campus. For centuries the unspeakable have been helping us. It is high time for us to pay them back, so friends join together and turn things around green, friendly and beautiful.
Note: This report was published in CET College Magazine 2007.
